Providing field experience to nurture fully trained language teachers
Theory alone is insufficient to train up professional teachers. In the four-year BEd(L) programme, students are provided with the opportunities to have 16 weeks of field experience in a real school and classroom environment. First year students start with school attachment, observing classroom teaching. Attachment schools may include kindergarten and primary schools, with classes conducted in the language media of English, Chinese and Putonghua. In Year-2, they are attached to secondary schools and practise peer teaching, by either working in pair with another student teacher or the original class teacher. In Year-3, they teach independently at junior secondary level, and attempt cooperative teaching at senior secondary levels by working with other teachers. Year-4 students are considered more competent and teach independently both junior and senior forms.

Field experience continues overseas or in China at schools arranged by the host universities during the immersion semester. Students observe class teaching and in some cases assist in teaching in the attachment schools. This valuable experience exposes the students to a different educational system and gives them the chance to compare teaching and learning in Hong Kong with their host country.